124 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



"^ Z-ctaa**- ^~** 



THE SOLITARY SNIPE. 



(Scolopax Major, Linn. Bccassine double, Tern in. 



LATHAM gives the following" description of this 

 bird: "weight eight ounces: length sixteen inches: 

 bill four inches long: crown of the head black, 

 divided down the middle by a pale stripe: over 

 and beneath each eye another of the same: cheeks 

 and throat delicately and thinly sprinkled with 

 small spots : the upper parts of the body very like 

 the Common Snipe: beneath white: the feathers 

 edged with dusky black 011 the neck, breast, and 

 sides ; and those of the belly spotted with the same, 

 but the middle of it is plain white: quills dusky: 

 tail reddish, the two middle feathers plain, the 



